Clash of the Avengers
The Clash of the Avengers was the first open confrontation between the two factions that once made up the Avengers. The battle started when Iron Man and War Machine intercepted Captain America and Winter Soldier at Leipzig/Halle Airport to enforce the Sokovia Accords, escalating into a battle after a heated argument with neither side backing down. Background Bucky Barnes had been framed for a bombing attack on the Vienna International Centre the day the Sokovia Accords were being signed. Barnes' friend, Captain America, brought it on himself to bring Barnes in, knowing that ordinary humans would not survive an encounter with a super soldier, especially one that had once nearly beat him to death. However, he discovered that Barnes could not have been in Vienna at the time of the bombing, and he was therefore innocent. A chase through Bucharest only resulted in Barnes, Captain America, Falcon, and Black Panther being arrested. All four were escorted to a Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Building; the two Avengers and Black Panther were placed in an office and had their equipment confiscated, while Barnes was heavily restrained in a mobile cell, to be interrogated. Prior to Barnes' interrogation, Theo Broussard, the psychiatrist who was supposed to be carrying out the interrogation, was murdered by Helmut Zemo, the true perpetrator of the Vienna bombing. Zemo impersonated Broussard, and carried out the interrogation as normal until he was able to speak a trigger phrase intended to activate Barnes' Winter Soldier programming and send Barnes on a rampage; Captain America realized that "Broussard" was an impostor, but was too late to prevent the attack. After killing several Joint Counter Terrorist Centre employees and nearly killing Black Widow, Barnes attempted to escape in a helicopter, but Captain America prevented him from leaving, causing Barnes to crash it. Captain America saved Barnes from drowning after falling into the river, and Barnes' Winter Soldier programming had worn off by the time he awoke. The Joint Counter Terrorist Centre gave Iron Man 36 hours to capture Barnes and bring in his renegade comrades. Although War Machine, Vision, Black Widow, and Black Panther agreed to help Stark, he still felt undermanned and recruited high school student Peter Parker, who Stark managed to discover was a superhero named Spider-Man, under the pretense of giving him a scholarship under the Stark September Foundation program. Meanwhile, Captain America and Falcon learned from Barnes that there were five other candidates for the Winter Soldier Program and that a man called Helmut Zemo was headed to the facility where they were being kept in cryogenic stasis. Rogers then asked Hawkeye to retrieve Scarlet Witch from the New Avengers Facility and then recruit Ant-Man, whom Falcon had run into in the past. Captain America's team then made their way to Flughafen Leipzig-Halle Airport, where a Quinjet was waiting to take them to Siberia.Captain America: Civil War Battle ]] Iron Man evacuates the airport, alerting Captain America and his team to the heroes' presence. Captain America jogs out onto the runway hoping convince Iron Man to allow him to pass. Stark has Spider-Man web Captain America's hands and revoke his shield. However, Hawkeye manages to launch an arrow with Ant-Man riding it to land on Spider-Man, retaking Captain America's Shield from him before he returns back to his normal size and uses his arrow to break through the web, thus the battle begins. Aftermath The four anti-registration Avengers (Hawkeye, Ant-Man, Falcon and Scarlet Witch) who stayed at the airport were captured and imprisoned in the Raft. Spider-Man was dismissed by Tony Stark and returned to his home in Queens, New York. James Rhodes survived his plummet, but suffered severe spinal injuries that ended his career as both an Avenger and a soldier. Tony Stark meanwhile, went to the Raft to visit Thaddeus Ross. However, shortly after the battle, Theo Broussard, the psychiatrist who was supposed to interrogate Winter Soldier, was found dead in a hotel room accommodated by Helmut Zemo. F.R.I.D.A.Y. relayed the image of Broussard's corpse to Stark while he was en route to the Raft, and also informed him that prosthetics designed to resemble a James Buchanan Barnes, better known as Bucky or the Winter Soldier, had been discovered there. Stark realized that the Winter Soldier had been framed, that it was Zemo who had bombed the United Nations, and that the Avengers had been manipulated into fighting over a falsehood. Stark attempted to tell Ross this, but Ross was having none of it. Seeing that he would get no help from the proper authorities, Stark decided to take matters into his own hands. He interrogated Sam Wilson on the destination of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, but deliberately caused a temporary audio failure, making it clear that he was no longer an enemy. Wilson told Stark that Rogers and Barnes were headed to Siberia. Knowing that making amends would make him an outlaw, Stark lied to Ross about what Wilson had told him, put on the Mark XLVI armor once out of visual range of the Raft, and flew to Siberia to reconcile, unaware that Black Panther was following him, intending to enact revenge on his father's true killer. References Category:Events